fenny

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See also: Fenny

English

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WOTD – 5 December 2023

Etymology

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Helsunger Bruch, a fen in Westerhausen in Thale, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

From Middle English fenny, fenni (“marshy, muddy; of meat: putrid, rotten; of a person: sinful, vile”),[1] from Old English fenniġ (“dirty; marshy, muddy, fenny”), from fen, fenn (“marsh, fen; mud”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pen- (“moist, wet; mud; swamp; water”)) + -iġ (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as fen +‎ -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives).[2]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fenny (comparative more fenny, superlative most fenny)

  1. Characteristic of or resembling a fen (“characteristically alkaline wetland containing peat below the waterline”); marshy, swampy; also, of land: containing a fen or fens.
    Synonyms: boggy, fenlike, fennish, quaggy, uliginous; see also Thesaurus:marshy
    • 1624, Richard Grenville, “A Briefe Relation Written by Captaine Smith to His Maiesties Commissioners for the Reformation of Virginia, Concerning Some Aspersions against It”, in Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 4; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, [...] (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 162:
      [F]or ſo many faire and Nauigable Riuers ſo neere adioyning, and piercing thorovv ſo faire a naturall Land, free from any inundations, or large Fenny vnvvholſome Marſhes, I haue not ſeene, read, nor heard of: […]
    • 1661, Robert Lovell, “Tetrapodologia. Of Fourfooted Beasts.”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A Compleat History of Animals and Minerals, Containing the Summe of All Authors, both Ancient and Modern, Galenicall and Chymicall, [...], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall, for Jos[eph] Godwin, →OCLC, page 47:
      Elephant. Elephantus. […] Their differences are according to place; ſo ſome live in fenny places, ſome on mountaines, ſome in fields, others in vvoods, &c.
    • 1712 June 27 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, June 16, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 406; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 9:
      It is a custom with the northern lovers to divert themselves with a song whilst they journey through the fenny moors to pay a visit to their mistresses.
      The spelling has been modernized.
  2. Now chiefly of plants: growing or living in a fen.
    • 1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, →OCLC, book 2, page 148:
      A fenny gooſe, even as her fleſhe is blacker, ſtoorer, unholſomer, ſo is her feather, for the ſame cauſe, courſer, ſtoorer, and rougher, and therefore I have heard very good fletchers ſay, that the ſecond fether in ſome place is better than the pinion in other ſome.
    • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:
      Fillet of a Fenny Snake, / In the Cauldron boyle and bake: […]
    • 1608, Edward Topsell, “Of the Dragon”, in The Historie of Serpents. Or, The Second Booke of Liuing Creatures: […], London: […] William Jaggard, →OCLC, page 158:
      Of the Indian Dragons there are alſo ſaid to be tvvo kindes, one of them fenny, and liuing in the Marſhes, vvhich are ſlovv of pace and vvithout combes on their heades like females: […]
    • 1661, Robert Lovell, “Ornithologia. Of Birds. [Brids[sic – meaning Birds] Lesse Used in Meat or Medicine.]”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A Compleat History of Animals and Minerals, Containing the Summe of All Authors, both Ancient and Modern, Galenicall and Chymicall, [...], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall, for Jos[eph] Godwin, →OCLC, page 181:
      Godvvit. […] they are a fenny fovvl, and live of VVorms, about River banks: […]
    • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book I (Knowledge), page 409:
      The hungry Crocodile, and hiſſing Snake / Lurk in the troubl'd Stream and fenny Brake: […]
    • 1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 7, lines 79–81:
      Paths there were many, / Winding through palmy fern, and rushes fenny, / And ivy banks; […]
  3. (obsolete, also figurative) Muddy; hence, dirty, filthy.
    • 1635, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Canto XIV. Pro[verbs] XXIV. XVI.”, in Emblemes, London: […] G[eorge] M[iller] and sold at at Iohn Marriots shope […], →OCLC, book II, stanza 4, page 118:
      Lord vvhat a nothing is this little Span, / VVe call a Man! / VVhat fenny traſh maintaines the ſmooth'ring fires / Of his desires!

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “fennī, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “fenny, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “fenny, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English fenniġ; equivalent to fen +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fenny (plural and weak singular fennye)

  1. fenny, marshy; like a fen
  2. (rare) rotten, tainted, sinful

Descendants

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  • English: fenny
  • Yola: venie

References

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